Movable barrier operators are well understood in the art and include a wide variety of openers for garage doors (with both residential and commercial/industrial variations being available), sliding and swinging gates, rolling shutters, and so forth. Such operators usually include a programmable platform comprising a programmable gate array, a microcontroller, a microprocessor, or the like that controls various operational states of the operator (including movement of a corresponding barrier, light operation, state monitoring, unauthorized entry detection, and so forth). Many operators also include other elements and components including but not limited to a motor and motor controller, a motor RPM detector, one or more wired remote control interfaces that are at least semi-permanently mounted remotely from the movable barrier operator itself, a wireless remote control interface, one or more worklights, and an obstacle detector, to name a few. Such operators also typically include a power supply to provide energy for all of the above components.
In general, movable barrier operators are designed to provide full power at all times to all elements of the system. For example, an obstacle detector (and the circuitry/logic that monitors and responds to the obstacle detector) will frequently be active and fully powered regardless of whether the corresponding barrier is opened or closed. As a result, the average power draw of a typical prior art movable barrier operator over time is often likely to be higher than might genuinely be merited. For example, many movable barrier operators draw more than five watts of power even during a relatively quiescent state such as when the corresponding barrier is fully closed.
Also, the power supply for many movable barrier operators tends to be simplistic and relatively static in operation in that the power supply is designed and built to operate at full capacity and provide full potentially necessary operating power to all components of the movable barrier operator regardless of the genuine need at any given moment for such power. Waste heat production and radiation due to the power supply design (often primarily due in many cases to the power supply transformer) alone can account for a considerable portion of the so-called stand-by energy needs of a prior art movable barrier operator.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are typically not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.